


Need to Know

by Deastar



Series: To Be Seen Aright [5]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, BFFs, M/M, Missing Scene, sub/dom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:05:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deastar/pseuds/Deastar
Summary: Going out clubbing with his friends in Moscow is one of Sasha’s favorite parts of the offseason – a chance to put the disappointment of the playoffs behind him and just let loose with dancing, drinking, and if he’s lucky, someone to take home at the end of the night. Tonight, Sasha is thinking that the someone in question might be Zhenya... but he's about to learn something that will change his plans.





	Need to Know

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Magyar available: [Tudnom kell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16308398) by [DahliaVariabilis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DahliaVariabilis/pseuds/DahliaVariabilis)



> Here's a missing scene from [To Be Seen Aright](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11907123/chapters/26902770) \- this takes place during the last summer in that fic, shortly after Geno screws up and almost punishes Sid when he didn't do anything wrong.

Going out clubbing with his friends in Moscow is one of Sasha’s favorite parts of the offseason – a chance to put the disappointment of the playoffs behind him and just let loose with dancing, drinking, and if he’s lucky, someone to take home at the end of the night. Tonight, Sasha is thinking that the someone in question might be Zhenya – he’s getting a little too tipsy to scene, but Zhenya is looking good in his stupid artfully ripped jeans, and Sasha thinks a nice, uncomplicated fuck with an old friend sounds like just what he needs.

He crowds up in Zhenya’s space on the dancefloor, but when he goes in for a kiss, Zhenya pulls back. “I’m seeing someone,” he says, a little apologetically, and Sasha lets go.

He’s a bit selfishly disappointed, but mostly he’s happy for Zhenya, who doesn’t date much, even though he more obviously and desperately needs a sub to care for than any other dom Sasha knows. He’s thought more than once that Zhenya might as well be carrying around a great big sloshing bucket of doting, passionate, possessive care, just waiting for a sub to dump it all over.

“Well, good for you,” Sasha says. He tugs Zhenya off the dancefloor to interrogate him; as soon as they’ve found a quiet corner of the VIP lounge, he raises an eyebrow and asks, “Sooooo… who’s the lucky sub?”

Zhenya looks uncomfortable. “I…” He hunches his shoulders a little—then, catching himself, un-hunches. “I can’t tell you.”

“You can’t tell me?” Sasha repeats, intrigued – he loves a mystery. “Is it a _celebrity_? Or—no,” he corrects, realizing there’s a much more likely possibility, “it’s another player, isn’t it?”

Zhenya rolls his eyes. “Sasha, I _just_ said I can’t tell you.”

“You can trust me,” Sasha wheedles, making beseeching eyes at Zhenya.

Zhenya sighs. “I trust you. He’s just—my sub—he’s private, okay? Very private. And it’s his choice, who knows and who doesn’t.”

“Fair enough,” Sasha says. He’ll just have to content himself with the mystery, rather than its solution – not such a bad thing. He draws a breath to move on in the conversation, and then the different pieces of data click: another player, a sub, male, very private…

“Oh, fuck, it’s Crosby,” Sasha blurts out, wide-eyed.

The blood rushes out of Zhenya’s face. “Shut up,” he hisses, “don’t—”

“Sorry, sorry,” Sasha says immediately. “It just came to me. But I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I can’t tell you,” Zhenya says stiffly. But the way he turned pale spoke for itself.

“Well, fuck,” Sasha says. He tries to wrap his head around this new information. He can’t decide whether to feel surprised or vindicated – on the one hand, he’s teased Zhenya for years about having a crush on his captain, but on the other hand, he hadn’t had the slightest clue that Zhenya was actually _serious_ about Crosby.

As he’s processing, he hears an echo of his own words in his head— _Maybe someday when you trust me more, you tell me who is dom who teach you that communicate is complain. I have some things I want to say to this dom_ —and his stomach goes cold. He doesn’t want to believe that it could have been Zhenya, but…

Carefully, Sasha asks, “How long have you and your… unnamed mystery sub… been together?”

Zhenya narrows his eyes. “That’s none of your—”

“Was it before or after our last game against you?” Sasha demands. “It’s important, Zhenya.”

“It—after,” Zhenya replies warily. “Maybe a month after?”

Sasha lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. That’s good.” He would have been shocked—and fucking heartbroken—if Zhenya had been the dom in question. And Zhenya had said that night that he _wasn’t_ Sidney’s dom: he’d met Sasha’s admonition to _take care of your captain_ with a soft, _He’s not mine to take care of_. But Sasha had to be completely sure.

Zhenya nudges Sasha with his shoulder – his eyebrows are drawn down, worried. “Why did you need to know?”

Sasha would very much prefer not to explain—it’s never a good feeling to tell a friend that you suspected him, even for a second, of mistreating a sub—but he doesn’t see any way out of it. “When we played the Pens this spring, and I asked your Sidney after the game to tell me if my Caps gave him any trouble, he said, ‘Oh, I don’t like to complain.’”

Zhenya winces. “Yes, that’s… very familiar,” he mutters.

“I had to make sure it wasn’t you who taught him to think that way,” Sasha says soberly. “I didn’t think it would be, but—”

“No, it’s not me,” Zhenya says quietly. He doesn’t seem offended that Sasha would have thought so, which is something. “I’ve been trying to—to _un_ -teach that. To get him to believe that—that he can tell me _anything_ , and I’ll listen, and help.” He sighs, and presses his back into the wall. “I’m not sure I’m doing so well,” he admits. “I make mistakes – I made a big one this week, scared him, I—” He breaks off. His fists are clenched by his sides, and his eyes clench shut, too, for a moment – he looks so disappointed in himself that Sasha starts to say something reassuring, but Zhenya shakes his head, cutting Sasha off.

“But I _am_ trying,” he says, resolute, more to himself than to Sasha. “And I love him. And when I make a mistake, I learn – and so does he. And we _keep_ trying.” He nods, and then, unexpectedly, turns to smile at Sasha.

“It’s nice,” he says, “to tell you. Privacy is good, and it’s good to keep some things to ourselves, but… it’s good to share things, too, sometimes.”

“I should have known already,” Sasha says ruefully. “That night of our last game, when you told me he wasn’t yours to take care of, you looked so horribly tragic saying it – like Evgeni Onegin watching Tatiana walk away.”

Zhenya laughs, blushing a little. “I wasn’t very subtle,” he admits. “But subtlety is… not really my gift. And it’s not what he needs, I think. He needs to know how much I care.”

“Then he’s with the right dom,” Sasha replies. He pokes Zhenya in the ribs, and grins when Zhenya bats his hand away, scowling. “No one could ever accuse you of playing it cool.”

Zhenya rolls his eyes at Sasha again, but he doesn’t disagree.

_Zhenya and Sidney Crosby_ , Sasha thinks, taking a second to let that fact settle in. He thinks, in the main, it’s a good thing, for both of them. From Sasha’s interactions with Crosby—especially their last conversation, in which Crosby had been so flustered at the idea of communicating honestly with a dom, and so heartbreakingly befuddled at being wanted by someone without being pawed at or insulted by them—he thinks Zhenya’s brand of attentive, supportive, and protective dominance is an excellent fit. And Zhenya… well, as Sasha was thinking before, Zhenya has long been in desperate need of a sub to devote himself to and fuss over. And an independent, driven sub like Crosby, who has his own life and his own goals to take up his time and attention, is a good fit for Zhenya’s kind of dominance – Crosby’s profession and personality will scrape him up against rough edges that Zhenya can try to smooth for him, and will get him out into the fresh air often enough that Zhenya’s devotion won’t smother him.

“Well, now he _is_ yours to take care of, so… take care of your captain, Zhenya,” Sasha says, clapping Zhenya on the back. “I won’t say he needs it, but I think it would be good for him.”

“I do, Sasha. I do take care of him.” There’s an uncharacteristic beat of hesitation, written all over Zhenya’s face—it makes Sasha curious, because after all these years, there’s little he thinks either of them would hesitate to say to the other. But after that brief wait, Zhenya adds, a little shyly, “And he takes care of me.”

It’s not something most doms would admit – but Zhenya has never been “most doms.”

“Good, because you _do_ need it,” Sasha says dryly.

Again, Zhenya doesn’t try to disagree – he just laughs quietly and nudges Sasha’s knee with his own knee. “Could be,” he allows.

Although Sasha is on fire to interrogate Zhenya about the relationship—how serious is it? how did it start? who else knows?—he respects Crosby’s wish for privacy, so he decides to leave the discussion of Crosby and Zhenya’s secret love affair there for now.

Instead, he cracks his knuckles and levers himself up from the wall. “Well, now that I know I can’t count on _you_ to be my piece of ass tonight,” he comments, making a face, “I guess I have to go find somebody else.”

Zhenya doesn’t even pretend to be apologetic. As they amble toward the door of the VIP lounge, he suggests, “Or you could just go home. Can you even get it up after all that vodka?”

“Those are fighting words, you know,” Sasha informs him seriously.

Zhenya deadpans, “You want to go?”

“Don’t be a tease,” Sasha scolds him, half-laughing, and follows Zhenya into the pounding bass and flashing lights, in search of a beautiful stranger.

**Author's Note:**

> All feedback is loved (including concrit)! Just copying and pasting a line or two that stood out to you means a lot.
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](https://youhideastar.tumblr.com)!


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